Pope Francis to Hear From Syria’s Refugees in Jordan

Amman: Pope Francis will hear first-hand accounts of the horrors of Syria’s war when he meets refugees in Jordan on Saturday as he begins a three-day visit to the Holy Land.

The Argentine pope will meet Christians and Muslims forced to leave their homes and flee to the neighbouring desert kingdom, now home to more than 600,000 refugees and the first stop on Francis’ trip ahead of Israel and the Palestinian territories.

He will pray with the refugees and hundreds of disabled youths, cancer patients and orphans at Wadi al-Kharrar on the eastern bank of the river Jordan, where many Christians believe Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist.

Many pilgrims who will flock to see him there, and at an open-air mass in the capital Amman, want Francis to use his visit to make a strident call for peace across the border in Syria.

“He needs to see the situation of Christians in Syria. He needs to see what terrorism did to them and to their heritage,” said Norma, 30, from the ancient Christian settlement of Maalula, recently recaptured from rebels by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

“In the past we lived in harmony and coexistence, but now Syrian Christians are in danger,” she said, reflecting the view of many Christians – Roman Catholic and Orthodox – who sided with Assad, fearing the harsh Islamist ideology of some rebel factions.

Rula Hajjar, a 26-year-old Christian woman who fled the northern Syrian city of Aleppo told AFP: “We want the pope to highlight the suffering and agony of the Syrians and work on restoring peace to Syria.”